Machine for separating wool fibres or other filaments



A. BOER Feb. 23, 1960 MACHINE FOR SEPARATING WOOL FIBRES OR OTHER FILAMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1955 2 mnumn mug n w" in u n IN! INVENTOR. W41 3%...

MACHINE FOR SEPARATING WOOL FIBRES OR OTHER FILAMENTS Arpad Boer, Buenos Aires, Argentina, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Bancroft-Brillotex International 8A., Montevideo, Uruguay, a corporation of Uruguay Application April 25, 1955, Serial No. 503,619

1 Claim. (Cl. 19-130) The present invention refers to a machine for separating wool fibers or other filaments, and more particularly to a defibering machine having a series of successive pairs of rolls, one roll of each pair being smooth surfaced and the other roll being provided with ribs and grooves which become narrower in width in successive rolls.

The machine serves to separate the fibers by lineal traction in the general manner of manual processing by pulling certain fibers in order to isolate them and leaving of each pair is provided with projections able to grasp part of the incoming wool, traction being produced only where the projections make contact. The fleece passes continuously through the machine and those portions which are not grasped by the projections of one roll are grasped by subsequent rollers for division as the wool passes through the machine.

This action, which gives rise to the picking out of the fibers, is repeated in a series of pairs of rolls in such manner that the mechanical work performed is progressively multiplied as the projections become reduced in area until a minimum size is attained. The traction between successive pairs of rolls is proportional to the mechanical work performed.

The invention may be embodied in various forms in which said rolls are constructed to obtain these results, as the same efficiency may be obtained with annular or helicoidal ribs and grooves, either complete or truncated or with echelon arches, etc., as long as the traction of pulling of fibers in isolated bands may be obtained.

For greater clearness and comprehension of the invention it has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the machine with parts broken away;

Fig. 2 is a schematic profile view of the machine showing the increasing speeds of successive pairs of rolls;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the machine of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 3, but showing both rolls provided with annular ribs and grooves;

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of part of a further modified form of the machine, in which the ribs and grooves of the rolls are helicoidal;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but in which the ribs and grooves of one roll of each pair are inclined or arched; and

Fig. 7 schematically shows the manner in which the wool is progressively defibered and the individual fibers practically isolated at the discharge end of the machine.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a is the machine the grooves 4. This does frame in which are mounted the axles 1 of the active rolls b which are coupled to a motor-driven differential transmission of conventional design in such manner that each succeeding driven roll is operated at a higher speed than each either preceding driven roll, thus providing an increasing speed graphically shown by the successively longer arrows in Fig. 2.

Rolls b and b of each pair are disposed in tangential relation with a reciprocal pressure such that the wool 2 passing through them is forced to advance to the next pair of rolls, and so on, and, since each pair of rolls b and b provides a reduced space between them, the series of pairs of rolls forms a passage for the wool through the machine to define the path of travel which the wool 2 must follow.

In each pair of rolls b and b at least one roll of the pair is fluted, as at 3, to provide annular or spiral grooves 4 defined by like shaped ribs. Of each pair of rolls b-b', positive action is obtained only by the surfaces of the ribs.

Thus, when processing the wool 2, the same is actively engaged by the ribs 3 and separating action is provided by the grooves 4. Therefore, the traction exerted by the action of the rolls does not' embrace the whole of the wool but only a portion thereof in proportion to the width of the ribs. The entrance end of the machine is provided with a pair of smooth rolls 0 which serve to feed the wool to the first pair of rolls bb' of the series.

The first pair of active rolls bb has wider ribs and grooves than the second pair and the second pair in turn has wider ribs and grooves than the first, and so on successively throughout the series. This means that following this progression a decreasing proportional gradient results up to the last pair of rolls b-b which has narrowest ribs and grooves.

By this construction the series of active rolls b-b' has an increasing rotational speed gradient and a progressively decreasing width of ribs and grooves toward the discharge end of the machine.

The ribs 3 may be annular, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, so that they always provide the same contact surface in order to produce pulling of the fibers through not mean merely that the fibers follow the groove course, because they always receive, even if only relatively slightly, a certain amount of friction which represents an impelling movement. The impellance of wool by the grooves 4 is less than that of the fibers in contact with ribs 3.

This efifect is obtained with success in the manner shown in Fig. 3 in which roll b is smooth surfaced and roll b has alternating ribs 3 and grooves 4, but good results may also be obtained with the arrangement shown in Fig. 4 in which rolls bb are both provided with symmetrical ribs and grooves but with grooves of lesser depth so that there remains a smaller vacuum for the fibers passing through the space formed by said grooves. As it is also necessary that the fibers passing through the grooves be subjected to friction in order to advance them through the machine, the roll construction and operation described ensures such.

As already stated, ribs 3 may also be helicoid, like a screw thread, but as this type of rib may cause a slight lateral displacement of the fibers (in accordance with the thread pitch) the ideal arrangement is that shown in Fig. 5 in which the rolls have been disposed with their threaded parts in inverse form relative to each other, so that the tendency to lateral displacement is compensated.

Furthermore, instead of circumferential spiral ribs, the ribs 3 may be, for example, arches united to other similar arches along the roll, whereby a threaded form (Fig. 6) is retained but without a progressive spiral pas- Patented Feb. 23, 1960 gradient throughout the series, as.

sage or groove. The grooves 4 in this instance are discontinuous. In the modifications of Fig. 6, when the pairs of rolls b-b rotate, ribs 3 and grooves 4 are presented alternately to the wool. For this reason, When one part of the wool is operated on by'a rib 3 of a 180 arch, a'vacuum is created by a groove 4 as the wooltpasses the groove. This results in and is a consequence of alternate action, with those parts of the wool not dragged orpulled by their-coincidence with grooves being subsequently advanced by the succeeding ribs.

The operation of all the various forms of rolls on the fibrous; material is essentially the same and is as follows:

Theifibe'rs 2 of the wool in the form of sheared fleece arepresented practically parallel to each other as they-are fed: into the machine by rolls c (Fig. 1) in the direction of the: arrows.

Rolls operate at :a lower speed than'the first pair of IO1lSb-*b' an'dthus the wool passing through rolls 0 to rolls b-b' is acted on by ribs 3 thereof to cause separation of the fibers and to leave behind those parts of the fibers coinciding with-grooves as. graphically shown in Fig. 1, and as may also be seen from Fig. 7. The parts of the:wool vigorously. pulledby the difierence of speed correspond in proportion to the width of ribs 3, As stated'above, the'first pair of rolls b-b' has ribs and grooves of the greatest width as compared with succeedingrolls. The fibers coinciding with grooves 4 are retarded'as compared to those acted on by the ribs, but they nevertheless also advance and areigripped later by some rib of the rolls. This retarded movement is not shown in Figs. 1 and 7 so as not to confuse the operation of the fiber subdivision involved in the separation of the'fibers.

Beyond the first pair of rolls, inasmuch as the second pair has narrower ribs and grooves than-those of the first pair, a subdivision of the wool fibers is obtained and, due to the greater speed of the second pair of rolls, a drawing or drafting action takes place at each pair of rolls with respect to the preceding pair of rolls. The fibers are at each pair of rolls subjected to a litter or greater subdivision, since the ribs 3 and grooves 4 become progressively narrower in each succeeding roll pair. As the fibers emerge from the machine at the discharge end thereof, they are practically reduced to individual parallel filaments as graphically shown in Fig. 7.

The fibers may then be conducted by any means to other machines or manufacturing places for any desired further treatment.

It 'is understood that various other -modifications= of detail or construction and form'may-be made, without departing from the invention -as defined aby the appended.

the roll of each-succeeding pair of rolls,-so that the series.

of pairs of rolls forms a. gradient-from larger to smaller with respect to the width of the ribs and grooves, means for drivingsuccessive pairs of rolls-at-suceessively-im creasing speeds, so that from the first pair to the lastthere is a speed of rotation gradient, whereby succeedingrol-ls are capable of drafting the fibers-supplied from thepreceding rolls, while, because of the decreasing width of their ribs, the series of rolls constitutes a, progressive fiber subdivider.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 701,183 Ellis May 27, 1902 2,219,077 Pharo'et al Oct. 22, 1940 2,232,348 Svoboda Feb. 18, 1941 

